Retribution of Scyrah

(ATTENTION - Retribution players, please add short descriptions of the units below and what they're good at etc.)

The elf faction. Unlike most factions in WarmaHordes, the Retribution of Scyrah isn't a nation but an extremist organization that believes human magic has given their gods cancer. Only recently has it been given official backing from one of the elf great houses, making them more of a standard army than a crazed terrorist cell.

The history of the Elves in the Iron Kingdoms

Unlike most settings, elves are not the first race in Immoren. Menoth's creation of humans inspired a group of other gods to try their hands at it. Unlike Menoth, who wanted servants and warriors, the elf gods wanted children and so took extra care in their making. As a result, the elves advanced much faster than humans, spreading all over western Immoren and creating the Empire of Lyoss. At their height, they built the Bridge of Worlds in their capital city Nyshyl. The intent was that the gods could use the Bridge to cross from Urcaen into Caen and live amongst their people. Like most attempts to communicate directly with gods through mortal ingenuity, it failed big time.

Once the gods crossed the bridge, it exploded, obliterating the capital city of Lyoss and the surrounding countryside. The gods and the surviving elves migrated west. Along the way, volunteers from the Dawnguard of Nyrro chose to guard the rear of the refugee column, sacrificing their lives almost to the last. The elves constructed eight cities dedicated to each of their gods, who would live in great temples at the center of each city. Apparently not learning their lesson the first time, the elves resolved that their new nation, Ios, would be just as grand and beautiful as Lyoss.

Over the centuries, elves started to age and die of natural causes. Political unity fell apart. Worst of all, the gods announced that they would leave Caen. They said that living outside the Veld had caused them to weaken and in turn that weakness spread to their people. They met one last time and then left Ios; their meeting hall has been perpetually sealed as a holy place. In the aftermath of the gods' departure, a prophet named Aeric claimed to have received a vision of the gods telling him to lead his people out into the wilderness. After their departure, Darsael was expunged from historical records, as if the people wanted to forget about the city and Nyssor's people. They would later become known as the Nyss.

Hundreds of years later, the clergy of Nyrro claimed that their god had returned. Many joined, but some were skeptical, especially because the clergy were refusing to give details of Nyrro's return and his messages. Eventually it was discovered that the clergy were not just lying, but engaging in horrific rituals that included living sacrifices. The Dawnguard, infuriated that the priests of their god had fallen so low, hauled them out and executed them. Since then, Eversael has been abandoned as a haunted city and the Dawnguard have abandoned their worship of Nyrro.

Then came the Rivening. All the priests of the elven gods went nuts at once. When the madness ended, all the surviving priests except Scyrah's had lost their magic. Elven scholars believe that the loss of Ayisla, the goddess of reincarnation, is why babies are being born without souls. They also observed the human resistance against the Orgoth and discovered that the humans could wield magic. This magic appeared to disturb the cosmological balance and was attributed as increasing the incidents of elven soullessness.

Over the centuries after the Rivening, elves would heed a call to Ayisla's abandoned realm to find spiritual fulfillment. Instead, they found a new god: Everblight, a disembodied dragon who carefully corrupted their minds, bodies, and souls, refining his techniques to create the perfect blend of loyalty and lethality that he desired. When the elves finally realized the threat, they moved against him. Everblight brought his power to bear, obliterating the city of Issyrah before he was cast down and his athanc torn from his flesh to be imprisoned in a remote mountain where he would never affect the world again, right?

But there was good news (hurray!): Scyrah came to Shyrr, walked into the Fane of Lacyr, and never came back out (hurray?). Her priests said very little about her until they announced that she was dying. Displeased by the lack of action of their politicians, two sects have formed: the Seekers and the Retribution of Scyrah. The Retribution's mandate is to end human magic and its practitioners to save Scyrah's life. It was swiftly outlawed, but not eradicated.

The Retribution has gained followers over the centuries, and one of their advance scouts, Eiryss, has brought news to Ios: Ghyrrshyld of House Vyre, long thought dead, is the eldritch Goreshade, he has Nyssor's sword, and the Khadoran government has Nyssor himself.

Forces of the Retribution

Warcasters

• Adeptis Rahn - Master of Jerkassery and Wizardry. His hobbies include playing bowls with jacks and flinging blasts everywhere. Both his theme lists are solid, but not required to make him good. Bring arc nodes for maximum effect.
• Dawnlord Vyros His feat, birds eye (ignore models and forests for LoS), and his spell list says he likes jacks, but he does not have enough focus to run them all effectively. Except on feat turn where you can get some silly things happening, especially with jacks that have side step or beat back, such as killing an entire unit. His first theme force gives a rather unique build with double daemons on a pair of sentinels forming the bulk of the list.
  • Vyros, Incissar of the Dawnguard - Like his previous version, but more jacks, especially light jacks. One of three casters that can make a light jack take down a colossal, given some setup. If you play competitively, expect to see him a lot, since he is one of the few decent answers to legion beasts (and shadow pack).
• Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper - The battle box caster, brings no offensive buffs but lots of anti magic and a strong defensive feat. Highish focus, you tend to see quite a few jacks with her, including a few arc nodes to make use of her true sight spell casting. Can steal focus/fury, but don't get yourself killed doing it.
• Garryth, Blade of Retribution - His pistols have bayonets on the butts. He probably stabs himself with them a lot. Looks like a melee assassin, and he does pretty well at it, being a Weapon Master and all, but don't underestimate how much damage his paired pistols can do. Squishy as hell, though.
• Ravyn, Eternal Light - Snipe, Feat, Go. The threat of it is better then in practice, but the mere possibility of being attacked by a unit that ignores most defensive measures from outside your range to deal with it controls the pace of games. High accuracy ranged gunline with sneaky jack assassination vectors later on.
• Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn - No weapons or damaging spells at all. Her feat effects all attacks, which lets her army get off a devastating alpha strike. Expect arc nodes (blinding light is excellent) and possibly a hyperion for ancillary attack, but also runs an almost swarm army rather well.
• Lord Arcanist Ossyan - If you need to tear down something tough from range, Ossyan is your man. He has some movement shenanigans through speed buffs/debuffs and out of activation movement, but the main reason for his being is his feat. Give him some knockdown guns and stormfall archers and killing a colossal in a single turn is not unusual. Bring a banshee.

Light Myrmidons

• Chimera - Light arcnode that can teleport. If you don't want to arc spells its still got two open fists, so can throw and slam effectively, can combo strike to deal with tougher models, and is still just annoying enough to kill that most people will ignore it.
• Gorgon - Only light jack that has a gun (currently). Force lock is neat, but don't expect him to survive long once he gets into place, people hate being unable to move. Often considered to be overpriced for what he brings.
• Griffon - Contender for best light combat jack in the game. Pathfinder, naturally fast with extra movement abilities, accurate reach attack and a shield. Frequently seen with Vyros2 (Incissar), where synergy turns them up to 11.
• Aspis - Shield guard that has a massive amount of shield boxes. To add insult to injury they regenerate over time. Two beat back fists give him some decent anti infantry potential as well.

Heavy Myrmidons

Retribution heavy jacks are priced and stated with the understanding that you will take an arcanist with them. Do not leave home without at least one, and if you have more then one jack two.

House Shyeel Have forcefields, which you can spend focus to regenerate (like regen in hordes, but worse). Faster, but lower armour then Vyre jacks.

• Hydra - Its main trick is being able to store focus on it between turns, which then boosts the power and range of its gun. Its also got two open fists and a chain attack, so is no slouch in melee either, but does not hold up to other heavies.
• Manticore - Rate of fire three hand cannon that can also make a covering fire template. Also capable of giving itself a strength buff, which combined with combo strike gives it the single hardest hit in the faction.
• Phoenix - Expensive, but so worth it. Has a penchant for fire, with continuous or crit fire on all its attacks and is equaly at home clearing infantry or taking on other heavies. Like its name sake, can regenerate its forcefield without spending focus. Also has an arc node.

House Vyre Slower then Shyeel jacks, but more armour. No forcefields, but has extra hull boxes to make up for it. Their guns are not tied to any systems, which means they are still a threat until the model is dead.

• Banshee - The other expensive one. Its gun lets you slam smaller models or knock down large ones, and its got a high powered melee weapon to boot. Banshees wail, so you can't hear orders or cast spells when close to it.
• Daemon - Your bringing it for its gun, which makes mini black holes. Suck in all models round the one it hits, then stick a template on top of them. Blessed fists give it some melee threat, but not as much as the other options.
• Sphinx - The cheapest heavy we have, its a melee jack at heart. Open fists give it some flexibility, and like all ret jacks it has a gun, which debuffs enemy magic defense. That does not mean you want him with rahn though, since he wants more arc nodes, but can help out battle mages elsewhere.

Character 'Jacks

• Hypnos - Ossyan's jack. Main thing of note is his gun, which is the only thing that can stop colossals or gargantuans from spending focus/forcing. He is also the highest effective damage jack in melee against non knocked down jacks we have, so definitely worth considering with ossyan as a second jack after a banshee.
• Discordia - Technically Rahn's jack, but spends more time with everyone else. Long range magic spray and can make models round it blast immune. Higher accuracy makes it a strong melee threat, on par with the banshee and phoenix.
• Imperatus - Vyros's jack. Essentially a souped up phoenix, trading the arc node and infantry clearing for an extra sword and side step. It can also revive itself when killed, which makes it tougher then most colossals.

Colossals

• Hyperion - Big stompy robot that was designed to take down dragons like everblight. Beyond standard colossal melee power, its main gun is a high powered blast with crit consume attached, which although short range can let it wipe whole units off the board quickly.

Units

• Dawnguard -
  • Invictors - Their swords have guns and they can flank with Warjacks. They also have Combined Ranged Attack and can Jack Marshal. Their UA can give them a once-per-game range boost. They're an expensive Swiss Army Knife unit that can do everything pretty well, but are probably overcosted.
  • Sentinels - Their swords don't have guns, but they have Reach and Weapon Master. They kill 'jacks and beasts. Their UA gives them Vengeance. Again, they're expensive, but unlike Invictors, they're pure brawlers. A bit slow, but if you can get them stuck in, they will rape face.
  • Destors - They have horses and laser lances. Sounds cool, but their cost combined with fragility(for cav models) means you don't see them often.
• House Shyeel Battlemages - Elf Muscle Wizards. They can cast Fist twice per turn, and they can take a 1" step between each casting. They also have Fist at a Distance, which yanks people around like ragdolls and sometimes knocks them on their ass. Solid with other warcasters, they can annihilate with Rahn.
• Houseguard -
  • Halberdiers - The closest to a line grunt ret have. Have a rule for everything, making them survivable against charges or low powered ranged attacks, while also being devastating on the charge themselves. The UA gives them reform, which helps keep them alive longer once stuck in, and a mini-feat for more damage and accuracy.
  • Riflemen - Basic CRA trooper. Gets interesting with the UA and thane, the former letting them CRA into melee and making them more accurate, while the latter lets them ignore stealth.
  • Heavy Rifle Team - Armour pieceing artillery. Strictly out-performed by the stormfalls, but a nice looking model.
• Mage Hunter - All mage hunters ignore armour and defence buffs, as well as focus on warcasters, which makes their low power go much further. They also have pathfinder.
  • Strikeforce - The reason people hate ret. With the UA, they ignore half the rules in the game (defensive buffs, line of sight, terrain), but they are allergic to blasts. Does do more damage to jacks, but don;t expect them to scrap a heavy without help.
  • Infiltrators - Fast, fragile, but painful when they hit you. They may have low power, but gang combined with ignoring buffs makes a mess of most infantry. Mage hunter also means they make a mess of casters as well, if you can get them there.
    • Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander - Unit attachment for both our mage hunter units. You can't take her on the same unit as the Strikeforce UA, so no LoS ignoring, focus/fury removing shots. Give fearless and reform to the unit, which makes the infiltrators a lot more survivable since they can spread out after ganging up on something. Can also remove upkeeps that the model she hit cast. Unlike previous version, has taken some combat training and is now a weapon master, which means that she can probably kill infantry that jam her now.
• Stormfall Archers - Elven archers. . . with grenades attached to their arrows. Three types of arrows: extra damage on a direct hit, long-range arrows, or fire arrows (that kinda suck). Plant them on a hill and keep them the fuck away from anyone with melee.
• Soulless Escort - A universal weapon attachment. Makes you have to get closer to cast spells on the unit, and can dispel upkeeps. Flank gives it decent melee potential, but its squishy beyond belief, so you may want to keep it way in the back.

Solos

• Arcanist - Can repair stuff, give a strength bonus and can provide focus to Warjacks. Bring one for each jack you have at a minimum, they are on a par with the menoth choir for power.
• Dawnguard Destor Thane - Hand cannon with multi fire on a cav base, but also has a decent melee charge if needed. Looks plain at first but once you know the cav rules inside out they are rather hard to pin down, so make good spot removal tools and objective holders.
• Dawnguard Scyir - Annoying order of activation issues. You should have a jack marshaled to him, with one he becomes awesome.
• House Shyeel Magister - The battle mages bigger brother. Adds combo slam to the mix, as well as the ability to move your own models.
• House Shyeel Artificer - Gives out blast immunity, can move enemy models, and is rather tough. Nicknamed mega-mittens, has melee power on par with a light warjack, if you can get him there, since he is slow.
• Mage Hunter Assassin - Elf chick with a giant whip chain that can ignore focus camping and defensive buffs. As if that weren't bad enough, it's also a weapon master that rolls an extra die on damage. As if that wasn't bad enough, it also has decapitation, which doubles all damage that gets past armor. The frosting on the cake is that it's also got a four-inch reach. The decorative icing on the frosting is that it also has Stealth. And Pathfinder. And Stealth. And Advance Deployment. All for two points. The only saving grace is its low armor: expect your opponents to bombard your single elf chick with every fucking AOE on the planet once they realize what they can do.
• Ghost Sniper - When it hits something it can chose to do three automatic damage, wherever it likes. Good at killing solos, UAs, and knocking arms and aspects off of jacks/beasts.
• Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios - Biggest threat is her disruptor bolt, which is effectively game over if you manage to land it on a warcaster. Can also hunt solos and UAs if you can't get her to the caster much like the ghost sniper. Works for other factions as a merc. Gets calls all sorts of names, none of them polite.
  • Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - Like the first Eiryss, but trades some power on her disruptor bolt for the ability to remove upkeeps. Also works for other factions as a merc. Probably hated even more.
• Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen - Fast blessed weapon master that gets tougher and stronger when stuff dies round him. Things tend to die when he reaches them.
• Nayl - Character soulless. Totally untargetable by spells, when he dies he blows up and removes all focus and fury in an area round him, which can either be great (terminus looses all his camp), bad (the enemy chucks him back at your caster), or worse (enemy uses him to remove fury from his beasts, so can get more work out of them). Use at your own peril.
• Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios - Character mage hunter assassin. Trades decap and chain weapon for an extra melee attack and sprint, which lets him dance around the battlefield. Crossbow for when you can't get in range to hit other stuff.
• Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber - Our journeyman caster. Can munch through light infantry in melee by herself, but poor ranged ability due to no ranged weapon and only four focus. Counter charge for her and her jack is situationaly brilliant. Rahn gives her a passable assassination option with his feat.
• Houseguard Thane - Makes houseguard effectively fearless, and either move faster or ignore stealth. Singlehandedly makes the rifles worth taking, and gives the halbs a stupid threat range, especialy if you tack on other buffs (15" under ossyan or issyria).